Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
But how large of a generator will I need if I'll ONLY be using it to recharge the inverter batteries? Will the Honda EU2000 portable generator suffice (I believe it's 2000W)? Does the generator size only matter with regards to how long it takes to recharge the inverter batteries?
If you are only charging batteries, a Honda eu1000i is usually plenty. You merely need to provide power to your trailers converter/charger and it draws relatively little power, typically around 750 watts for a 50A charger. On the other hand, some of the inverters you are considering come in versions that have built in 100A chargers. In that case, you would be exceeding the limits of a 1000 watt genset. 100A X 14VDC = 1400 watts of power and the actual draw would be slightly more due to power losses.
More than 2000 watts of inverter is a very hefty power consumption. If you really expect to use that much, you are going to need an equaly hefty size battery bank, probably 4-6 golf cart batteries. That's a lot of space, weighht and expense for once-in-ahile boondocking..